OK Solberg: 00:00

I wanna again welcome you into the 04:05 coffee break, guys. Cool out there. Get you a cup of coffee, maybe a hot mug of cocoa, bottle of water. Let's see what's happening.

OK Solberg: 00:09

Spring wheat $5.16 a bushel. 550lb steer calf $4.67. Tune in on Halloween day, and I'll eat crow. Talk about that more later. Butcher hog in Iowa 65¢ a pound, and a lamb that's fat weighing a 100lbs in Billings will fetch you $2 even. But, guys, there's more, much more.

OK Solberg: 00:34

Hey. I woke up in the night to the sound from outside. I went to the window and looked out, and here it was grapple falling on the tin roof. You know, you could've knocked me over with a feather. Grapple, also known as soft tail, a type of precipitation that forms when super cooled water droplets freeze onto falling snowflakes.

OK Solberg: 00:58

Oh, I'm sorry. I don't know why I said something so stupid. Pause. I can hear the listening audience say, Orvin what you just said when you said, I don't know why I said something so stupid. You guys are thinking, hey. That might have been the smartest thing Orvin's ever said. Oh, yeah. You know that's why I like this program. You never know what topic might get covered.

OK Solberg: 01:24

So seriously now, what shall our topic be for today?

OK Solberg: 01:31

What will it be? Sky's the limit. You know, everyone in the civilized world knows that there were two outstandingly exciting baseball games that happened just yesterday. Everyone knows that the Seattle Mariners have a two game lead over the Toronto Blue Jays in the ALCS. Two games to zero, and you'd have to live under a rock to not know that just last night in the NLCS, between the Dodgers and Brewers, there was a bases loaded double play, listen, that has never been seen in post history of the baseball, Major League Baseball.

OK Solberg: 02:17

Double play that's never been seen in post season. Ah, but I can hear you. That's old news, Orvin. Let's talk about something else. Alright.

OK Solberg: 02:29

How about this? Today, let's talk about the the lost art of handwriting and penmanship. Did you realize that cursive writing is disappearing? Oh, yeah. Did you realize that some young people from this present generation, if they were digging through grandparents' old stuff and they came across, oh, let's say some old love letters or grandma's old recipes or even a bible verse note, They couldn't even read them.

OK Solberg: 03:07

Oh, that's sad. Let's look into that subject a little more right after our Bible verse. Now, this one is from the book of Proverbs, found right after the book of Psalms. Psalms, Proverbs. Proverbs 7:3 Bind them on your fingers. Write them on the tablet of your heart. Ah, yes. Write them on the tablet of your heart. But what if I can't read the writing?

OK Solberg: 03:37

That is an interesting concept, isn't it? Did you know, seriously, that my grandparents on my father's side wrote love letters? They didn't start out as love letters, but they soon turned to love letters. And one letter was sent from North Dodson, and it went all the way over to Norway. Yes.

OK Solberg: 03:56

My grandfather met a young Norwegian girl that just lived across a fence from their farm in Norway. Now after they met, the letters started showing up in the mail. See, guys, we, the family, still have the letters? We do. What a treasure.

OK Solberg: 04:17

But they're written in Norwegian. Sorry, but it's Greek to me. What do you mean, Orvin? I thought they were written in Norwegian, not Greek. Oh, no.

OK Solberg: 04:27

You know what I mean. But if you can't read the language, you don't know what the letters say. So listen, if young people can't read cursive writing, what's going to happen? Listen to this interesting article in the New York Post that was in there one year ago, 2024. And I quote, educators and parents are observing a surge in US youths who don't know how to read or write in cursive, which they blame on handwriting increasingly becoming obsolete in the digital age.

OK Solberg: 05:07

Now a lady from Connecticut lamented to the Daily Mail, she said that her 20 year old granddaughter struggle struggles to sign a check. This penmanship phenomena isn't just antidotal either. According to a 2021 study by one poll, a staggering 70%, 70% of Americans struggle to read their colleagues' handwriting, while 45% claim they can't even make out their own. Meanwhile, over 30% of survey respondents said that their illegible handwriting would make them anxious about writing on a board, like a chalkboard, in front of colleagues. Experts have blamed this trend on the rise of digital technology, which has seen teachers increasingly swap the pen out for the keyboard in the classroom.

OK Solberg: 06:11

End of quote. Oh, the woes of youth. Guys, do you remember learning cursive in third grade? Now to my knowledge, we didn't use the word cursive back then. It was just simply writing.

OK Solberg: 06:27

You learned to print in first grade. We learned to write in third grade. Missus Eaton was my third grade teacher, and I didn't get praised much by any teacher. That's for sure. But I did get a compliment in class and told us to practice our writing skills.

OK Solberg: 06:46

And if we completed another subject in class and it wasn't time yet for recess or lunch or even time to go on to the next subject, that we should practice our writing, a. A. Cursive. So I was doing that in class one day with Lyle Mayhew, Eddie Swartz, Debbie Clodestead nearby, and missus Eaton made a proclamation to the class. Class, see what Orban is doing?

OK Solberg: 07:15

He's practicing his writing skills. That's what you all should do when you have extra time. It is a dear memory from my childhood. My time's up, but I honestly wish I could write as neat as missus Eaton or missus Raymond. You should have seen their w's.

OK Solberg: 07:35

Their w's. It was a artistic masterpiece. So until next time, as you go out there, remember now, don't be bitter.